Just lost my temper after a long protracted discussion - again - about why we can't afford the latest iphone for my 11yr old (yr7). OK, so we have shot ourselves in the foot by getting him to grammar, where, everyone, according to him is rich, rich, rich. However, I suspect that sending him to the local comp won't make much of a difference to his desperate pleas to have what 'everyone' else has. Tried the, 'you're so much more than a phone' approach, the 'we can't afford it approach', the 'look at all the things you do do that other kids don't do', the 'you have a phone and a ipod touch aready' approach, but I couldn't seem to get him to realise that I really really empathised with him - even talking about how I felt when I was his age. I realise this is our fault totally - he is spoilt up to what our budget can afford, but we just can't compete with his new friends, and I don't want to. In the end I lost it and shouted him down. He says that his rich friends aren't snobby, but that he just needs to have the best to feel like he fits in. It feels like he's throwing all our hardword back at us. (it was great to have the 'why don't you get a job too?' thrown at me). I know the second he gets an Iphone, he'll be nagging for all the other stuff he hasn't got. We are not going to give in on this one, I just need to know how to help him cope with his obvious feelings of envy and inadequacy. I would also like to feel less like rubbish too. Please help.